Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs from 2nd to 6th September, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IBPS PO VI Mains, Bank of Baroda and Bank of Maharashtra PO Exams.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 2 to 6 September, 2016

India and Vietnam on 3 September 2016
signed twelve agreements to boost the bilateral relations between the two
nations. The agreements were inked after delegation level talks
between of Prime Minister of the two nations, Narendra Modi and Nguyen Xuan
Phuc.

India and Chilehave expanded their Preferential Trade Agreement with
both offering to lower or eliminate tariffs on a number of items traded with
each other.

India and Egypton 2 September 2016 signed an agreement on Maritime
Transport. The agreement would help the two nations to step-up
co-operation on the seas not only in terms of maritime commerce but also in
transit of naval vessels.

Odisha governmenton 3 September 2016 signed a long-term lease
agreement with Falcon Marine Exports for
the operation of Jagatjore Shrimp Culture Project
in coastal Kendrapara district. Falcon Marine Exports was the highest
bidder of the project.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on
1 September 2016 launched an insurance scheme for passengers travelling on e- ticket.
The insurance cover will be up to 10 lakh rupees. The insurance coverage will
be available in case of train accidents and other untoward incidents, including
terrorist attack, dacoity, rioting, shooting or arson.

The government has approved
projects worth about Rs 450 crore under 'Swadesh Darshan' scheme for five
states, including poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

Gumthala Garhu near Pehowaon 3 September 2016 became the first Wifi hotspot village in
Haryana circle under the bulk plan of BSNL for the state.

The Odisha Governmenton 3 September 2016 launched the Biju Kanya
Ratna Yojana (BKRY) in three districts of the state. The scheme was
launched for the development of girls.

Union Government on 3 September
2016 approved the use of Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide (PAVA) as an
alternative to pellet guns for crowd control. Pellet guns will be used in the
rarest of rare cases.

The Guinness World Records on 1
September 2016 declared Assam's Majuli as the largest river island in the world.
The island is located in the Brahmaputra River.

The first BRICS Film Festival will kick
started on 2 September 2016 at the Sirifort Auditorium Complex, New Delhi.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
inaugurated the festival.

Cardiologist K K Aggarwal was on 2 September
2016 unanimously elected as the National President of the Indian Medical Association
(IMA)for the year 2016-17.

The Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) of Malappuram,
Kerala was on 1 September 2016 conferred with the 2016 Unesco Confucius Prize
for Literacy. The award was conferred on the JSS in recognition of
its literacy-linked skill development activities among the underprivileged in
rural areas.

Indian ecologist and conservation
activist Bibhuti
Lahkar on 4 September 2016 became the first Asian to be awarded the prestigious
Heritage Heroes Awardby the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Mother Teresa on 4 September 2016 was
proclaimed a Saint by Pope Francis in a ceremony at the Vatican.

Action movie star, writer,
director and martial artist Jackie Chan will be given an honorary Academy (Oscar)
Awardfor his extraordinary
achievements in the movies.

The International Day of Charity was on 5
September 2016 observed.

Finance/Industry/Banking –

India-Vietnam inked 12 agreements to bolster bilateral relation

India and Vietnam on 3 September
2016 signed twelve agreements to boost the bilateral relations between the two
nations. The agreements were inked after delegation level talks between of
Prime Minister of the two nations, Narendra Modi and Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who
is the first Indian premier to visit the country in 15 years, was on a two day
visit (2-3 September 2016) to Vietnam. The last Prime Minister to visit Vietnam
was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who visited the nation in 2001.

The signed agreements include

Framework agreement on
cooperation in the exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes

Protocol for amending the
agreement on avoiding double taxation

Program of cooperation in UN
Peacekeeping Matters

Protocol on celebrating 2017 as
the "Year of Friendship”

MoU on health cooperation

MoU on cooperation in information
technology

MoU on cooperation between the
Vietnam academy of social sciences and the Indian council of world affairs

MoU on cooperation in cyber
security

MoU for cooperation in the fields
of standardization and conformity assessment

MoU on establishment of the
centre of excellence in software development and training

Technical agreement on sharing of
white shipping information

Contract for offshore high-speed
patrol boats

Apart from this, India also
extended 500 million dollar Line of Credit (LoC) to Vietnam for facilitating
deeper defence cooperation with the South East Asian nation. The LoC was
extended as the two nations elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic
Partnership to respond to emerging regional challenges.

Till now, Vietnam had Strategic
Partnership only with Russia and China.

India, Chile expand preferential trading pact to boost economic ties

India and Chile have expanded
their Preferential Trade Agreement with both offering to lower or eliminate
tariffs on a number of items traded with each other.

Chile has offered concessions to
India on 1798 tariff lines with margin of preference (extent to which duties
are lower than those offered to other countries) ranging from 30 per cent to100
per cent.

India’s offer to Chile is on
1,031 products with a margin of preference between 10 per cent and 100 per
cent.

The agreement on the expansion of
India–Chile Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) was signed in a meeting between
Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia and Chilean Ambassador to India Andrés Barbé
González on Tuesday, an official release said.

India, Egypt sign agreement in area of Maritime Transport

India and Egypt on 2 September
2016 signed an agreement on Maritime Transport. The agreemnt would help the two
nations to step-up co-operation on the seas not only in terms of maritime
commerce but also in transit of naval vessels.

The agreement was signed after
delegation level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting
President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in New Delhi. President Sisi is on a three-day
visit (1-3 September 2016) to India at an invitation of President Pranab
Mukherjee.

Earlier in October 2015, the
Union Cabinet gave its approval for signing of an agreement between India and
Egypt on Maritime Transport. It was decided that the agreement would be signed
on a mutually convenient date and venue.

The proposal was approved with a
view to strengthening cooperation and to render sustained mutual assistance and
advice on merchant shipping and other related maritime matters.

LG Electronics Inc ties up with Amazon.com on smart-home services

South Korea's LG Electronics Inc
on 2 September 2016 tied-up with Amazon.com Inc on smart-home services.

This tie-up will help enabling
the services of Amazon such as the Alexa virtual assistant on some of the
electronics maker's devices.

Alexa will work with its
SmartThinkQ Hub, an LG device used to connect with home appliances over the
internet.

It will allow users to control
the South Korean firm's home appliances via voice-recognition technology.

Odisha government on 3 September
2016 signed a long-term lease agreement with Falcon Marine Exports for the
operation of Jagatjore Shrimp Culture Project in coastal Kendrapara district.
Falcon Marine Exports was the highest bidder of the project.

The lease period will be for 15
years which, will fetch revenue of 13 crore rupees to the government.

The project was first implemented
in 1992-93 in Mahakalpada Tahasil of Kendrapara District executed by the State
Fisheries Department. It was executed with loan assistance from World Bank with
a cost of 25.23 crore. It was completed in 2000.

Odisha took up the Shrimp culture
in 2001, under which 81 lakh rupees was provided to the BPL beneficiaries as
working capital. But, the project became defunct as only crop was partially
successful.

The government decided to revive
the project, which was lying idle for years on the suggestions from the Seafood
Exporters Association. The association requested the government to use the
developed infrastructure.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on
1 September 2016 launched an insurance scheme for passengers travelling on e-
ticket. The insurance cover will be up to 10 lakh rupees.

The insurance coverage will be
available in case of train accidents and other untoward incidents, including
terrorist attack, dacoity, rioting, shooting or arson.

Features of the Scheme

A person booking a train ticket
through the IRCTC website will be eligible for the travel insurance and it is
optional.

To avail the facility, train
passengers will have to pay 92 paisa premium.

The insurance cover will not be
applicable for children up to 5 years of age and foreign citizens.

The facility will be available
only for confirmed and RAC ticket passengers.

There will be no refund of the
premium in case of ticket cancellation.

The scheme offers travellers or
nominees a compensation of 10 lakh Rupees in the event of death or total
disabilty, 7.5 lakh Rupees for partial disability, up to 2 lakh Rupees for
hospitalisation expenses and 10000 rupees for transportation of mortal remains
from the place of a train accident.

The compensation claim has to be
made within four months of the incident and the insurance company is required
to process the claim within 15 days of receipt of the require documents.

Shriram General Insurance
Company, ICICI Lombard and Royal Sundaram General Insurance have been roped in
by Indian railways for providing the insurance cover.

India –

'Swadesh Darshan' projects worth Rs 450 crore get govt nod

The government has approved
projects worth about Rs 450 crore under 'Swadesh Darshan' scheme for five
states, including poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

The scheme was launched with an
objective to develop 13 theme-based tourist circuits in the country and the
approval for five was given in a meeting of the central sanctioning and
monitoring committee (CSMC) on Monday.

'Ramayana circuit' in Uttar
Pradesh with a project cost of Rs 70 crore was approved, while 'heritage
circuits' in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand with costs of Rs 100 crore and Rs
83 crore, respectively, were also sanctioned, he said.

'Coastal circuit' in Tamil Nadu
with a cost of about Rs 100 crore and envisages development of
Chennai-Mamamallapuram- Rameshwaram-Manpadu-Kanyakumari.

The 'heritage circuit' in Madhya
Pradesh, which covers Gwalior-Orchha-Khajuraho-Chanderi-Bhimbetka-Mandu with a
total project cost of about Rs 100 crore, envisages infrastructural development
of the sites, the official said.

The 'North East circuit', with
cost of Rs 95.50 crore, in Sikkim was given the green signal and it includes
development of eco log huts, cultural centre, paragliding centre, craft bazaar,
base camp for mountaineering and meditation hall, he added.

Gumthala Garhu near Pehowa on 3
September 2016 became the first Wifi hotspot village in Haryana circle under
the bulk plan of BSNL for the state.

The service was inaugurated by
state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar from Chandigarh.

Gumthala Garhu is located on
Ambala-Kaithal-Hisar road and has a population of 11000.

The BSNL Haryana circle plans to
have 238 Wifi hotspot locations with 1072 access points in the state. The
project will be implemented to its full capacity during the current financial
year.

Key highlights

The Wifi hotspot facility at the
village uses bandwidth of 10 mbps through BSNL’s state-of-the-art network.

Ten outdoor and one indoor access
points have been installed to cover the village.

The coverage from each access
point is about 100 meters.

Odisha Government launches Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana

The Odisha Government on 3
September 2016 launched the Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana (BKRY) in three districts
of the state.

The scheme was launched for the
development of girls.

The scheme will be implemented
for three years in Ganjam, Dhenkanal and Angul districts on a pilot basis.

The objective of the Biju Kanya
Ratna Yojana is to improve Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) and Child Sex Ratio (CSR)
in the three districts.

The CSR has declined from 967 in
the 1991 census to 941 in the 2011 census in Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Angul and
Ganjam districts. However, Nayagarh is covered under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
scheme.

Key highlights of the Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana

The BKRY will ensure enrolment of
girls in elementary education.

It will track dropout girls from
schools and create a better environment for them.

The scheme will create awareness
on gender discrimination against girls, their health, nutrition and education.

Union Government approves use of chilli-based PAVA shells as
alternative to pellet guns

Union Government on 3 September
2016 approved the use of Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide (PAVA) as an
alternative to pellet guns for crowd control. Pellet guns will be used in the
rarest of rare cases.

Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide
(PAVA) also called Nonivamide is chilli-based ammunition that is less lethal
and immobilises the target temporarily. The shells actually contain an organic
compound found in natural chilli.

The PAVA shells were under trial
for over a year at the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, a Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratory in Lucknow.

Guinness World Records declare Majuli as the largest river island

The Guinness World Records on 1
September 2016 declared Assam's Majuli as the largest river island in the
world.

The island is located in the
Brahmaputra River.

As per the Guinness World
Records, the island lost around one-third of its area in the last 30-40 years
due to frequent flooding of the river.

Majuli had a total area of 1250
square kilometres at the beginning of the 20th century. However, it had lost
significantly to erosion.

It had an area of only 352 square
kilometres in 2014.

Army Design Bureau formed to reduce dependence on imports

Indian Army on 30 August 2016
announced establishment of the Army Design Bureau (ADB) to indigenise procurements
and reduce import dependence.

The ADDB will facilitate the
weapons and technology building efforts between the Defence Research &
Development Organisation (DRDO), industry and the army.

Establishment of ADB was
announced by Army Chief General Dalbir Singh at an Army seminar on Make in
India. At the seminar, the Army Chief also launched the ‘Make in India Army
Website’ that will serve as a one stop platform for information to vendors.

It was developed with an idea to
bring together academic institutions and the industry to develop indigenous
knowhow and for this the Army is open to sharing parts of its long-term plans.

The ADB will integrate various
stake holders in its long-term requirements and will be a single point contact
for them.

TVSN Prasad Committee submitted its report on use of Pellet Guns

TVSN Prasad committee constituted
to look into the alternatives to pellet guns submitted its report to Home
Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi on 30 August 2016.

As per reports, the committee was
not in favour of completely removal of the pellet guns in the Kashmir Valley
but suggests that it should be replaced with polymer, rubber and paper bullets.

It suggests that the pellet guns
should be used in rarest of rare cases.

It suggests for use of other
non-lethal weapons, like chilli grenade shells, for crowd control.

It asks for use of Pelargonic
Acid Vanillyl Amide (PAVA) also called Nonivamide and other non-lethal
ammunition like 'stun lac cells'.

It calls for use of Long Range
Acoustic Device (LARD), which create deafening noise to paralyse people, in
rural areas as it could prove dangerous for old buildings in downtown Srinagar.

First BRICS Film Festival begins in New Delhi

The first BRICS Film Festival
will kick started on 2 September 2016 at the Sirifort Auditorium Complex, New
Delhi. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh
Rathore inaugurated the festival.

The five-day festival aims at
providing a platform for people of the film industry of member countries to
explore areas of cooperation in the domain of cinema, culture and cuisine.

Key highlights of the BRICS Film
Festival

The idea of BRICS film festival
has been conceived to build bridges and bring harmony amongst the BRICS
countries, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The opening film for the festival
will be the world premiere of the Malayalam movie, Veeram.

The closing film will be the
Chinese movie, Skiptrace, starring Jackie Chan directed by Renny Harlin.

Sponsored

Appointments –

K K Aggarwal elected as National President of IMA

Cardiologist K K Aggarwal was on
2 September 2016 unanimously elected as the National President of the Indian
Medical Association (IMA) for the year 2016-17. Aggarwal is currently the
Secretary General of the IMA.

Moreover, the association also
elected Dr Ravi Wankhedkar from Maharashtra as the National President for the
year 2017-18 and Dr R N Tandon as Honorary Secretary General.

The Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS)
of Malappuram, Kerala was on 1 September 2016 conferred with the 2016 Unesco
Confucius Prize for Literacy. The award was conferred on the JSS in recognition
of its literacy-linked skill development activities among the underprivileged
in rural areas.

The JSS bagged the prestigious
international award for its initiatives in applying new technology in literacy.
Innovations such as Braille applications and the Talking Pen used by the JSS
impressed UNESCO.

The award sponsored by China
consists of 20000 US dollars, a diploma, and a silver medal. Moreover, a JSS
team will be given a free study tour to China.

Indian ecologist and conservation
activist Bibhuti Lahkar on 4 September 2016 became the first Asian to be awarded
the prestigious Heritage Heroes Award by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Lahkar received the award at the
IUCN's World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Indian ecologist was among
five conservationists across the globe to be nominated for 2016 Heritage Heroes
Award.

The Heritage Heroes Award is
aimed at recognising outstanding efforts around the globe in making a
difference in the conservation of World Heritage sites in challenging
situations.

Mother Teresa canonised as Saint by Pope Francis at Vatican

Mother Teresa on 4 September 2016
was proclaimed a Saint by Pope Francis in a ceremony at the Vatican.

Thousands of pilgrims attended
the canonisation of Mother Teresa in St Peter's Square.

During the ceremony, Pope Francis
announced “We declare and define Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to be a saint and
we enrol her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by
the whole Church."

With this, Mother Teresa became
the fourth Indian to be made saint. Those who received the honour before her
include Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Sister Euphrasia and Sister Alphonsa.
Saint Gonsalo Garcia, though of Portuguese parentage, was born in India, and is
considered an India born saint.

Jackie Chan to be given honorary Oscar

Action movie star, writer,
director and martial artist Jackie Chan will be given an honorary Academy
(Oscar) Award for his extraordinary achievements in the movies.

Chan will receive an honorary
Oscar statuette at the Academy's 8th Annual Governors Awards to be held on 12
November 2016.

The Board of Governors of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science recently voted to present the award
to Chan, British editor Anne V Coates, casting director Lynn Stalmaster and
documentary maker Frederick Wiseman.

Academy President Cheryl Boone
Isaacs described the four as true pioneers and legends in their crafts.

Sports –

Sikki, Pranaav clinched Brazil Open Grand Prix title

India's mixed doubles pair of
Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy on 5 September 2016 won the 2016 Brazil
Open Grand Prix. It was their maiden Grand Prix title.

In the final clash, the top
seeded Indian pair, ranked World no. 65, defeated Canadian combo of Toby Ng and
Rachel Honderich 21-15, 21-16 in straight games at Costa Cavalcante.

The 23-year-old Sikky won as many
as five international challenger titles in 2015, which includes two mixed
doubles and three women's doubles crowns. She was also a part of the bronze
medal winning Indian team at the 2014 and 2016 Uber Cup. So far, she played
mixed doubles with six different partners, including V Diju, Alwin Francis,
Tarun Kona, Manu Attri and K Nandagopal.

World –

2016 G20 Summit concludes in Hangzhou, China

The 2016 G20 Summit was held for
two days on 4 September and 5 September 2016 at the Hangzhou International
Exhibition Centre, Hangzhou, China.

The theme of 2016 G20 Summit was
Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy.

It was the first ever G20 summit
to be hosted in China and the second Asian country to host the Summit. Before
China, Seoul, South Korea, hosted the 2010 G20 Summit.

It was the 11th summit since the
inception of G20 in 1999.The summit was attended by all the leaders of the G20
including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The chair of the summit was Xi
Jinping, President of China.

Key highlights of the summit

On 3 September 2016, Barack Obama
and Xi Jinping announced the ratification of the Paris Agreement of the 2015
United Nations Climate Change Conference by their countries. The United States
and China represent respectively 18 percent and 20 percent of global carbon
dioxide emissions.

The world leaders endorsed free
trade and a crowded agenda that included the Koreas, Syria and refugees.

The 2017 G20 Summit will be held
in Hamburg, Germany, under the leadership of Angela Merkel.

Microsoft, Google and Salesforce adopt EU-US Privacy Shield framework

American tech giants Microsoft,
Google and Salesforce on 3 September 2016 officially adopted the EU-US Privacy
Shield framework. This will enable them to receive personal data from the
European Union (EU) in compliance with the new standards.

They are now among the 103
companies out of the 5526 signatories to replace the defunct Safe Harbour
framework.

A newly discovered fish of the
genus Tosanoides was in September 2016 named in honour of US president Barack
Obama for his commitment to protect nature through the expansion of the
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

The fish is found only within the
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a World Heritage site encompassing
1510000 square kilometres of ocean waters, including ten islands and atolls of
the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The site is the largest swath of
protected land or water on Earth and is home to millions of seabirds,
endangered turtles, endangered monk seals, and more than 7000 species.

World Health Organisation certifies Sri Lanka malaria-free

The World Health Organisation on
5 September 2016 certified Sri Lanka a malaria-free nation.

Sri Lanka is the second country
in the WHO South-East Asia Region to eliminate malaria after Maldives.

Sri Lanka’s anti-malaria campaign
adjusted its strategy to intensively target the parasite after the malaria
cases jumped in the 1970s and the 1980s and the 1990s. The change in strategy
was unorthodox, but highly effective.

IUCN lists Eastern Gorilla as Critically Endangered

The International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on 4 September 2016 listed the eastern gorilla,
the largest living primate, as critically endangered in its latest red list of
threatened species.

The eastern gorilla was listed in
the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species that was released
at the IUCN World Conservation Congress taking place in Hawaii.

The IUCN stated that the eastern
gorilla has suffered a 70% population collapse over the past 20 years,
primarily due to illegal hunting.

The largest living primate’s
population is now estimated to be fewer than 5000. Grauer’s Gorilla, one
subspecies of Eastern Gorilla, has lost 77% of its population since 1994,
declining from 16900 individuals to just 3800 in 2015. Hunting represents the
greatest threat to Grauer’s Gorillas.

The second subspecies of Eastern
Gorilla, the Mountain Gorilla, is faring better and has increased in number to
around 880 individuals.

Days –

International Day of Charity observed globally

The International Day of Charity
was on 5 September 2016 observed globally with an aim to recognise the role of
charity in alleviating human ‎suffering within and among nations, as well as of
the efforts of charitable organizations ‎and individuals including the work of
Mother Teresa.

The day was first celebrated in 2013.

Obituaries –

Noted Assamese poet Nalinidhar Bhattacharyya dies

Noted Assamese poet, literary
critic and author Nalinidhar Bhattacharyya passed away on 2 September 2016 in
Guwahati following age-old ailments. He was 95.